Global, Human, and Ethical
Impacts
Impacts
Human
• Throughout time, humanity has used
natural resources, animals, plants and
inanimate materials, for its survival,
consumption, and enjoyment.
• It is often taken for granted things and
resources will always be here.
• Many times short term monetary gain is
considered a priority.
Impacts Continued…
Global
• Population:
- is growing at an exponential rate.
- shows a continual change in human
needs and wants.
• Energy: non-renewable resources are
becoming more and more scarce.
Ethics
• A set of moral principles or values; a
theory or system of moral values.
• The discipline dealing with what is good
and bad and with moral duty and
obligation.
Ethical Design Dilemmas
• Situations in which decisions you make are in
conflict with what may or may not be morally
correct.
• Sometimes this is obvious right away, and other
times it is not.
• Solutions to open-ended design problems have
dilemmas that designers face when creating the
product.
• Let’s look at some pictures of products or things
and discuss the ethics involved.
Inventions
• What are the ethical consequences
suggested in these pictures?
Steps in resolving ethical design
decisions
1. Moral Clarity- identify the relevant moral
values.
2. Conceptual clarity- clarify key concepts.
3. Just the facts- obtain all relevant information.
4. Informed about options- Consider all genuine
options and alternative solutions.
5. Well-reasoned- Make a reasonable decision.
Design Analogy
• Engineering design as a metaphor or
model for thinking about moral decision
making- in general, not just within
engineering.
• Like design, moral choice often involves
alternative permissible solutions to
dilemmas.
Product Lifecycle
• Definition
• Five Steps
Raise and Extract
• All consumer products begin their lifecycle with
a dependence on the natural environment.
• Some form of energy is always required to
extract the natural resources from the earth or its
atmosphere.
Process
• Raw materials are processed or refined.
• Energy is required for the processing and
refining.
Manufacture
Manufacture
• Additional energy is required as the processed
or refined materials move through the
manufacturing and assembly process.
Use
Use
• Consumer products are transported to stores
(consuming additional energy) and are ready for
purchase.
• Products remain at this stage as long as they
are usable or repairable.
Dispose
Dispose
• When the product is no longer of use to us and
we “get rid” of it.
EPA Guidelines
• EPA: Environmental Protection Agency. This
organization’s mission is to protect human
health and the environment.
EPA Guidelines
• The EPA works to develop and enforce
regulations that implement environmental laws
enacted by Congress.
EPA Guidelines
• The EPA is responsible for researching and
setting national standards for a variety of
environmental programs.
• The EPA delegates to states and tribes the
responsibility for issuing permits and
monitoring and enforcing compliance.
OSHA Guidelines
• OSHA-Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
• OSHA's mission is to assure the
safety and health of America's
workers by setting and enforcing
standards; providing training,
outreach, and education;
establishing partnerships; and
encouraging continual
improvement in workplace safety
and health.
OSHA Guidelines
• To establish and maintain
safe workplace
environments, OSHA
enforces standards and
reaches out to employers
and employees through
technical assistance and
consultation programs.
Recycle
Products made from recycled
Material
Why Recycle?
The Process
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Products to be recycled.
The consumer’s role.
The collector’s role.
The remanufacturing process.
The finished product.
The key to recycling is the
consumer!
Plantation to paper and
paper to paper:
http://www.pneb.com.au/recycling.html
Non-recyclable items
• What can we do?
• How do we dispose of them properly?